If You Go Down To The Woods Today
As part of the team that created the Celebration of Wood display in Heal's Tottenham Court Road, every time I pass the windows I have to pinch myself. It’s hard to imagine, let alone find, a store willing to have logs, boards and wood chips spread across their beautiful shop floor!
Yet Heal's have supported Grown in Britain from the start of our campaign and remain a strong advocate for promoting home-grown wooden furniture from well managed British woodlands and forests. Though I feel privileged to have had a full career in forestry, I am acutely aware that many in society struggle to connect the wooden items they use in their daily lives to the management of our woodlands.
That’s where Heal’s comes in. Strolling through the store, one is struck by the level of focus placed on the materials used, which often take equal billing alongside the design and craft of each piece.
The Celebration of Wood continues this tradition by illustrating the process of transforming raw materials into a fully formed table. Each of the ash logs on display has been felled from the stem of the timber within the Balcombe sawmills, before being cut into boards and stacked to naturally air and dry.
Alongside these sit Scottish Larch, Sussex Oak and Dorset Beech, many of which are also used widely throughout Heal's collections of classic and contemporary furniture. So if you go down to the woods today, there is plenty to see. The rich diversity of timbers provides endless opportunities for design, from traditionally crafted furniture to innovative new processes. When battling the elements to sustainably grow quality trees, it's rewarding to know the material is in good hands.
Dougal Driver is a Forester and a founding member of Grown in Britain.
